Delhi’s Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) yesterday arrested Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s nephew Vinay Bansal for his alleged involvement in a scam originating from the government’s Public Works Department.
Bansal, who is the son of Kejriwal’s brother-in-law, was arrested after ACB alleged that his company, Renu Constructions, had been involved in a PWD scam that came to light after a whistleblower claimed that Bansal’s companies indulged in financial irregularities while building a drainage system in Delhi.
ACB had sought three days’ police custody of Bansal for questioning in connection with this case immediately after his arrest, but this request was denied by a metropolitan judge as Bansa’s medical condition was weak. He was eventually remanded in one-day judicial custody by the court.
Senior Aam Aadmi Party functionaries soon reacted to this arrest by attacking the Centre for playing vendetta politics on it. Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the Delhi Police and ACB has been working only for the central government and the LG for the past three years to trouble AAP leaders and their relatives.
Party spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj took to Twitter to rebut ACB’s claims. He said that the contract in question was awarded in January 2015, while Arvind Kejriwal assumed office only a month later. He also explained that ACB’s claims of Bansal having used defective material while constructing the drainage system are false because two very reputed labs had tested this material and they had approved it.